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Election special: Cameron Exposed

Forget tired old memoirs and hearing the same story again and again. Amid the books released to coincide with next week's General Election are a number of surprisingly funny and shocking efforts which highlight the often farcical state that is modern politics.

Dave Cameron's Schooldays as told to Bill Coles (Legend Press £7.99) imagines just what the hapless Tory leader might have got up to in his early days at the top toff public school Eton.

In a fast-moving and playful spoof, we learn about 'Dirty' Dave's penchant for porn dealing, spying on a master's nubile daughter as she undresses, and necking gallon after gallon of ale. Most damaging are the revelations that Dave was, at that tender, impressionable age, something of a serial liar.

OK, the book is just a bit of fun by Old Etonian Coles, who was there at the same time. However, the details are so slick and telling that they could almost have you fooled.
Bad Laws by Philip Johnston (Constable £8.99), although hilarious, is no spoof. This is a pithy exploration of what Tory hack Johnston sees as the overly petty laws introduced over the last decade or so.

To be fair, some are European directives, however many are not. Talk about nitpicking nannyism - everything's here from the Licensing Act (which made it an offence to play
a piano in a pub without proper authorisation) to the smoking ban, via the Religious Hatred Act.

Johnston exposes an often serious lack of common sense in our lawmaking and an addiction to bureaucracy.
The Protestor's Handbook by Bibi Van Derzee (Guardian Books £7.99) will help everyone weather the next few years if Mark Thomas is not elected PM.

Although it might not equip you to oust a government, this is a supremely helpful and well-presented guide to standing up for your rights, and how to organise protests.

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Martin Newman

Martin has been reviewing art in Britain for over a decade. He gives a wrap of new exhibitions, books, news and gossip from the art world exclusively for Mirror.co.uk’s The Ticket blog.View all of Martin's posts.